What major Midwestern city (other than Detroit) suffered the most due to a legacy of racial conflict? (places, America)
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I want to leave Detroit out because it seems like the obvious answer. What Midwestern city suffered the next most because of racial conflict?
Are we talking just the city proper? Or surrounding cities in the larger Metro Areas?
Gary, East St Louis, Flint, and Benton Harbor have all suffered far worse (percentage wise) than Detroit. Arguably Detroit is starting to stabilize, and still is a functioning city. Most of the other smaller cities I listed are still dying.
A lot of people are picking St Louis, but interestingly St Louis (proper) was pretty much spared the bloody race riots that afflicted many other major US cities in the 19th and 20th centuries.
I would say Chicago and St. Louis are neck and neck, both have horrible racial histories that plague the cities until this day. I would say that Detroit would be the obvious answer. Cleveland also has been horribly influenced by racial segregation and tensions. Most large urban cities in the country have felt the scars of racial conflict, especially the ones with large African American populations. I would say that the Rust Belt region of the Midwest carries it the worst. The East Coast is also pretty bad, but the relative economic success and rebound of the East Coast has largely spared it of the level of White Flight that has been seen in the Midwest. I wonder if the Midwest had continued being a major hub of immigration if the racial tensions in the region would have been lessened.
I wonder if the Midwest had continued being a major hub of immigration if the racial tensions in the region would have been lessened.
I don't think so. The peak of immigration to these areas also follows the peak of the creation for the jobs in these areas that caused the migration. Once these job opportunities leveled off so did the high migration numbers. Those economic opportunities declined as those jobs shifted to places with cheaper labor pools.
I think the question you might be trying to ask is would these cities have become the model of white flight that they did? The shift of wealth and power from the core cities to the suburbs may be more evident in these cities than anywhere else in the country. My hunch is that the affects of decline on these cities would have been far lessened had racial tensions improved. Which I suppose in theory would have then made them more attractive for investment, and potentially have created new opportunities to entice new immigration. Full circle lol.
I don't think so. The peak of immigration to these areas also follows the peak of the creation for the jobs in these areas that caused the migration. Once these job opportunities leveled off so did the high migration numbers. Those economic opportunities declined as those jobs shifted to places with cheaper labor pools.
I think the question you might be trying to ask is would these cities have become the model of white flight that they did? The shift of wealth and power from the core cities to the suburbs may be more evident in these cities than anywhere else in the country. My hunch is that the affects of decline on these cities would have been far lessened had racial tensions improved. Which I suppose in theory would have then made them more attractive for investment, and potentially have created new opportunities to entice new immigration. Full circle lol.
No this isn’t really true.
Immigration in NYC and Boston (those are the two main immigration center in the northeast percentage wise) began in earnest around 1980, maybe earlier in NYC. The cities were still very much in a decline, the immigrants coming in and stabilizing neighborhoods eventually controlled population loss and attracted more private investment and money. They were CENTRAL to the rebirth of cities, by no means did they ride the coattails of urban success. They opened new businesses in former abandoned storefront and moved into neighborhoods that had been largely abandoned before they became unsalvageable. Immigration in Boston and NYC reaches peak level in the 1990s and until about 2015 they stayed there.
In DC immigrants came after revitalization but it’s not really the northeast. Philly and Bmore still don’t have a ton of immigrants.
I think NYC has always had a constant flow of immigration, as have many other major cities.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AshbyQuin
I've heard quite a few negative things surrounding Milwaukees treatment of African Americans.
Yes, but the effects haven't been nearly as devastating for Milwaukee as much as the others. It's never suffered blight and abandonment on the level of St. Louis or Detroit. While it's certainly changed, Milwaukee is largely intact, especially for a rustbelt city.
Immigration in NYC and Boston (those are the two main immigration center in the northeast percentage wise) began in earnest around 1980, maybe earlier in NYC. The cities were still very much in a decline, the immigrants coming in and stabilizing neighborhoods eventually controlled population loss and attracted more private investment and money. They were CENTRAL to the rebirth of cities, by no means did they ride the coattails of urban success. They opened new businesses in former abandoned storefront and moved into neighborhoods that had been largely abandoned before they became unsalvageable. Immigration in Boston and NYC reaches peak level in the 1990s and until about 2015 they stayed there.
In DC immigrants came after revitalization but it’s not really the northeast. Philly and Bmore still don’t have a ton of immigrants.
This thread isn't about cities on the north eastern corridor. It's specifically about Midwestern cities, where immigration patterns were much different than NE cities during this time frame(post industrial migration), to which my comments apply.
Though more specifically the immigration I'm referring to was the pattern of African Americans from the poor south that happened during the first half of the 20th century. Racial tensions were terrible, but economic opportunities were still promising enough to entice movement. When the economic opportunities slowed, so did the migration.
Is there one city that would jump out? Seems like more had their share of issues.
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